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exhaustion

Vacation allows us to step out of the routine, leave some of our responsibilities behind and relax. The more unfamiliar the place is the more likely we are to tune-in to our senses as we observe our new surroundings. We smell the bread baking in the subway kiosks, hear the meadowlark sing on the hiking trail, feel the texture of cobblestone rumble beneath the wheels of our taxi or taste the earthiness of goat cheese with merlot at a vineyard.

Relaxed, with our senses heightened, we begin to notice our body and where it is holding tension that was drowned out by the distractions of our day-to-day environment. Our body sends us signals all of the time, tight shoulders, headaches, indigestion, exhaustion. We can point to specific reasons for these such as working at the computer, something we ate, dehydration, not getting enough sleep. While these are all valid influences, our body also is a way through which our intuitive awareness speaks to us.

The exhaustion or tension may be our response to energy around us or choices we are making that are out of alignment with our truth. When we agree to something we don’t want to do, we are out of alignment and our body will tell us with some form of tension. The energy around us contains the vibrations of those we are connected to, a grieving friend, co-workers who are so at odds their anger oozes out into the office, a worrying mother who meddles in our life in order to feel in control of the things that worry her, a partner who is suffering from illness.

We all need restful moments to take a break from our incessant thoughts and replenish our energy. Vacations are one way to shake up our routine and draw awareness to the energy drains in our environment. By stepping away and returning with refreshed senses, they give us a window to see.

They allow us to release tensions we have been carrying unawares in our body; the knot in our stomach from that non-stop list of stuff to do to keep up with our lives. When I have these windows of rest, whether it be an afternoon hike at nearby Red Rock’s or a vacation far away, I use meditation tools to clear out the residual tensions my body is carrying.

In meditation sitting eyes closed or walking eyes open, I visualize a rose in front of me and ask it to draw out all the tension I’m carrying, for example a headache from over thinking or getting stuck in a question there is no clear answer to. I see the energy particles as dust or fog drawn out of my head and into the rose blossom, my spiritual dust buster. It vacuums out any residue that is clouding my clarity. When the rose blossom is full, I send it off to a faraway place and imagine it evaporating into thin air. My psychic space is cleaner, my body feels relaxed and I have a renewed sense of inner-peace.

Meditation can give us a mini-vacation, releasing body tension and refreshing our energy. Meditation can also help us while we are on vacation allowing us to drop in deeper, be present and truly rest. When we step away from the familiar cycle of our day-to-day routine and allow time to observe and release the collection of energies we’ve been unconsciously carrying, a shift occurs in our body bringing us into greater alignment with our intuitive truth guidance.

Energy is everywhere. Each physical space we enter has its own energy signature. This vibration is influenced by the thoughts, actions and emotions of whoever has passed through the building or room. Spiritual energy is like air, invisibly surrounding us at all times. We breathe in air molecules and our body uses the oxygen but expels the other gases we do not need. We don’t think about what is happening. The lungs brilliantly convert the air to feed our blood and fuel every bodily function. At higher altitudes there is less oxygen in the air. Our muscles move slower because it takes more breathes for the lungs to collect the oxygen needed to move. In a similar way, the spiritual energy in a space directly influences our vitality. A room that is clear and in alignment with our vibration will support a sense of ease. One that is not, may generate an lower vibration in the mind and body.

Some buildings or rooms contain negative residual vibrations of grief, depression, jealousy, anger, violence or pain. The spirit wants to crawl up out of the body to escape the energetic pollution. In response we may day-dream, experience physical exhaustion or begin feeling one of the emotions left in the room or building. I’ve walked into offices where there was a blanket of depression and passive aggressive energy, homes where depression or pain meets you at the door, gathering places where the joyous intentions of past groups raised the entire vibration of the building. When we find ourselves in a space that is lowering our energy it is in our best interest to leave or change the experience.

It is easy to clear energy is a space without interfering with the boundaries of others who share that space. Start by visualizing a large rose with a very long stem in the center of the room or building. See the stem of the rose deeply rooted into the earth. Imagine a golden thread from each of the top four corners of the room running down and connecting to the blossom of the rose. Do the same from the bottom four corners. Intend that you own this space while present so that your experience of it will match your vibration, not the other way around. In doing so you will find that you are able to have a deeper peace while you are in the room or building. This exercise is also helpful to use before bed in your bedroom if you are having trouble falling asleep.

In recent generations of human evolution we have grown more and more distant from the messages offered by our body and spirit. Demands on our time, the drone of city life and our constant interaction with people we do not know, have resulted in us shutting down certain levels of perception. We do this as an act of self-preservation, in order to avoid feeling bombarded and overwhelmed with these sensations when making our way through everyday life. This sensory awareness may result in physical and emotional indicators that cannot be explained. Western civilization has given us clinical names and labels, such as depression and anxiety, for the mystery symptoms experienced by large numbers of people. While the symptoms have both physical and spiritual origins, on a spirit level they are signs of the oversaturation of a person’s aura with the energies of others.

Without healthy boundaries, the aura of highly intuitive people is like a sponge absorbing our surroundings. We feel the energy of the unhappy driver behind us, an angry co-worker or bitter words said between husband and wife at the grocery store. Over time, the aura, our filter of the world, meant to be the beginning and end point of our body-spirit signature, gets congested. If our energetic filter is not being cleaned out regularly, like bacteria built up in a sponge, it gets stinky and is less effective at its job. The consciousness of our times demands development of skills to create healthy boundaries for ourselves and experience inner peace.

It is an act of self-healing to release energy that is not ours from our space. To set our space each day is preventative medicine for our energetic body. When we cultivate these skills within ourselves, we claim our capacity to heal. It takes less than 15 minutes to clean out your aura at the beginning or end of each day. Here’s one way:

Visualize a tree trunk attached to the base of your spine and rooted into the center of the earth. Own it by writing your name on it and bring it into present time adding today’s date. Include a switch or button, one that you can set to “full release.” Notice anything in your aura bubble that is no longer serving you, watch it release down the tree trunk. This energy is simply changing form, not causing any harm to the planet or others. Then set your intention for the day. Imagine the aura bubble around your body as complete, without any holes or gaps, give it a new color. Fill in your energetic body with a positive vibration of your choice, to set the tone of your day. Place protection roses on the outside of your aura in the six directions: in front, behind, right, left, above and below. Step into your day from a point of inner peace!

The vampire is a human who feeds off the life force of other humans. It needs the blood of another human to survive. It cannot generate its own energy or be satisfied by the energy sources other human’s use to fuel their life. In the myth, once bitten by a vampire you become one. The change is not physically noticeable but occurs on a deep cellular level. The weakness one experiences from having their life force drained is so powerful, the only path to replenish it is through drawing on the energy of another who has not been tainted by the same form of depletion.

Energy vampires are not a myth, which is why we are so curious about the mythical vampire. After spending time with an energy sucker you feel drained, exhausted, depleted. Yet while you were with them you felt magnetically attracted in a way that was hard to resist. The vampire is particularly seductive because we feel the vacuum within the person and want to help them heal. This archetype is played out on TV and in movies, using stories that intertwine vampires with romance, love that is secretly destructive. The stories connect us to the familiar experience of being in a partnership that is charismatically hard to break free from but depleting, one that steals energy from us. In relationship with a vampire we gain a sense of being needed. The power to fulfill the need of another, provide life sustaining energy, is exceptionally seductive.

From the perspective of our energetic body, the vampire often taps into our third chakra (solar plexus) the center of our personal power. This cord plugged into our belly siphons off energy for the vampire’s use. There are many past experiences that can make us receptive to vampirism, such as wounds to our sense of empowerment. It may be a belief that to love one must give of themselves limitlessly. It may be we had a parent that was a vampire and we allowed them to use our life force to insure that our needs would be met. Or we were taught that “no” was not an acceptable answer when our boundaries were being violated. The vampire is a very dynamic persona. In order to get agreement from those who allow them to consume, they must quietly create a tantalizing allure to ensnare their prey. Or charismatically demand the attention of a room being interesting but not at all interested in the thoughts or experiences of others.

As we become aware of the energy vampires in our lives or the way we vampire the energy of others, we can reframe our boundaries and fill our own cup without taking energy from others. The vampire will not die if we refuse to give them our energy. Conversely, if you notice your neediness responded to as a form of vampirism; know that you will not die if others withhold their energy. The death is mythical. The vampire archetype will find another energy source or learn a healthier way to sustain itself. By applying new relationship skills and owning our energetic space we give others and ourselves the gift of reciprocal energy exchange.

In the moment when you feel depleted by a certain interaction or you sense a person in your life is worn out from your contact, pause. This awareness provides an opportunity to practice a new response. Visualize a protection rose the size of a STOP sign between you and the vampire. See the stem of the rose rooted deeply into the earth. And ask the rose to be a filter between your two energies, only allowing that which is neutral and positive to come your way. On the otherhand, if you notice yourself pulling on another’s energy, activate the “golden sun” tool. Imagine a large ball of golden light just above your head, larger than your aura bubble. In the center of that golden sun see a magnet that draws your energy back to you from any place, person or project where you have left it. See the golden sun fill with your own vibration. When it is full, reach up, pop it and watch it run down into your body like honey, filling up every cell of your physical body then overflow into every atom of your aura. Experience yourself resting in the sense of being full, no longer needing to consume energy from another. When you are full and have activated healthy boundaries the vampire archetype is neutralized.

In today’s world the analytical mind is king while trusting intuition is judged as emotional and subjective. This cerebral approach to life attempts to figure things out and feel in control. Recent natural and man-made disasters have drawn to our attention the reality that humans do not have control over planet Earth. We can forecast the weather and volcanic eruptions, build dykes to protect us from tidal changes and use science to perform feats such as drilling for oil at great depths of the ocean, but this does not put us in control of the forces of nature. As long as we are not personally impacted by a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or tsunami we are able to live in denial, believing that technology will save us from the realities of our environment. Our belief in science has distracted us from true intuitive power that comes with alignment to the vibration of the Earth.

The human body is amazing in its capacity to understand and process an exceptional quantity of data. We have unintentionally detached from our primal-sensory nature through educational programming that validates the analytical mind combined with the many conveniences science and technology provide. Opportunities to touch the Earth and feel its pulse are not part of our daily lifestyle. Because of this we’ve lost contact with a facet of our intuitive capacity, experiencing a sense of separation from Mother Nature. When we take time to be in non-manmade environments we increase our access to inner guidance. A hike, mountain bike ride or work in the garden, saturate the visual auditory and sensory facilities with a neutral form of energy. Nature is chaotic and extremely organized in a material as well as spiritual sense. This reminds us of the invisible aspects of our Self.

By immersing in the Earth’s vibration we tune-in to a primal side of our human nature. The aspect of our energy that can sense when lightening is about to strike, as the hair on our arms stands on end. In the city we are swallowed up in a stream of news, whether it is fact, fiction or entertainment, it draws our attention away from our inner guidance. It keeps our focus pointed externally rather than internally. Mother Nature is the ultimate cleanser of psychic space. Her wild wide-open spaces download the information inundation that has clogged our receptors with predominantly useless data. The simple act of being in nature, regardless of the activity or inactivity of our body, can be an intentional form of meditation. When we see a hawk, daisy or the bark on an aspen tree we presence ourselves to beauty, resilience and simplicity.

The fire hose of data constantly inundating our life can be exhausting and overwhelming. It makes us want to crawl back into our shell, tune-out, take a break. The most vibrant place to take that break is in Mother Nature. Connection to the Earth’s vibration helps us align to the part of ourselves that is chronically being overridden by an analytical minded environment. Mother Nature offers us a healing of sensory overload and provides clearer access to our inner guidance. Let us receive her gift.

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